Anne Hathaway’s philosophy of life

The Hollywood hottie says its best not to take things too seriously.

Twenty-nine-year-old Hollywood actor Anne Hathaway is back in the limelight. This time, not for her past choices in men or for her engagement to Adam Shulman but to promote her film The Dark Knight Rises which will be out this summer. Hathaway, one of Hollywood’s hottest actors, spoke to The Sun about the important things her mother Kate McCauley has taught her about life.

Always laugh it off

“My mother taught me to always be understanding of other people — and to have a sense of humour about yourself. You need to hold on to that sense of humour. If you don’t look back and laugh at things like that, you really are taking yourself and life too seriously. Mom will never discuss or criticise my performances, which is exactly the way it should be,” says the actor.

Her reckless youth

“Lindsay Lohan and I have more in common than people think. We’ve all done things we shouldn’t have done. It is just that I did stuff at college when nobody knew about it, so I’m not a saint. I wasted time doing self-destructive things. I try to keep my personal life low-key, particularly after what happened to me.” (Hathaway’s former boyfriend, Raffaello Follieri was arrested and jailed for fraud in 2008 and she had to hand back the jewellery he had bought her).

On her pale skin

“Well, my family is very pale, with an Irish and French ancestry. My mom had some skin issues and my grandmother had skin cancer. So she has taught me to wear factor 30 suncream every day. I even carry an umbrella if I walk in the sunshine and use spray tan if I need to look as if I’ve been sunbathing. I also use a special lotion to regenerate skin cells.”

Weighty issues

“Mom has also encouraged me not to be one of those people who worry about weight. I know when people refer to me as a ‘regular’ girl, that it is a code word for ‘fat’ in Hollywood. It is completely understandable, as a teenager, to fret about your body. It is scary, because you don’t know how it is going to end up. But I am not a teenager anymore and my body has chosen its shape. I would rather be strong than skinny for most roles. I’ve actually had directors say to me: ‘You are the best actor for the role but you’ve put on weight recently.’ If they can’t understand that I put on five lb now and again, I don’t want to deal with them.”

Childish competitiveness

“When I was 16, I remember sobbing in the kitchen and my mom said, ‘What’s the matter?’ I said, ‘Tara Lipinski won a gold medal at 15 (for figure skating at the 1998 Winter Olympics). I am now 16. What do I have to show for it?’ My mom looked at dad and then said to me, ‘Maybe you are taking things a little bit too seriously?’”

With additional information from IANS

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2012.